Cactus Juice
by Boriqua-chan
Summary: "Hey princey with a cute butt!" Katara shouted, a bit too loudly and far too slurred. "Let's get outta here!" Oh good god, Katara's drunk. What'll happen?


**This was inspired by **_**happyzuko**_**'s "Zutara week – Cactus Juice" on ; the link is as followed:  
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**http : / / sasusakuzutara . deviantart . com / favourites / ?offset=24#/d27an66**

**There's a click-able link on my profile for all your lazy needs.

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Katara bent the water in her cactus, silently inspecting it. She knew what it had done to Sokka a few months back, but there was nothing in his stomach then. Just thin grains of sand and angry wind. That, and Sokka wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed if you know what she meant.

Right now, her fingers felt no resistance in the water, as she would if it was alcohol. The waters felt, actually, more willing than they would if it was pure water. Curiosity spiked her interest. If she wouldn't taste it yet, she could at least ask Sokka how it felt to be intoxicated with the odd liquid.

Katara lifted her head from the green cactus carcass. The glowing fire's tongues licked at the sky. Katara sighed and turned to her brother. His blue eyes were fuzzed over with the thin film of minor intoxication. "Hey, Sokka," she asked, putting her hands on the boy's shoulder. He was smiling across the fire to Suki, and jumped when he felt the relative warmth of his sister's fingers. "What does this"—here, she curved the cactus juice into a question mark—"taste like?"

The tribesman's hooded eyes looked at the clear juice with confusion for a second, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. Then a smile broke clear on his tanned face. "Just drink it!" he ordered. "You'll feel good!"

Katara dropped the water-like substance back into its cactus container. Where Sokka found a cactus in the middle of nowhere, she'll never know or question. Questioning things made her head hurt. In a place where up was down, down was up, right was left, left was right, and your head was your feet, thinking too much only hurt. The Air Temple was beautiful—that she could not deny—but it was so confusing. "Yeah, but…how does it feel to…be _drunk_ on it?"

The roar the fire almost drowned out Sokka's next words. "It feels like being on the wings of a rainbow!" Sokka laughed, taking another sip the thick, clear liquid. The fluid covered his tongue and throat wonderfully. His eyes glazed over more thickly with the chemicals in the juice. "It makes pig-juice…" The boy's thin lips pursed and his eyes creased with thought. "Monkey-oil…no, no, hog-sap! Yeah, yeah—that's it…hog-sap! It makes hog-sap look like a kid's liquor—like cider!"

He wasn't making sense. Katara had thought he wasn't that drunk. Hog-sap didn't exist! It was pig-milk that made the senses dim and the nerves faint. Still…the smell dragged her nose to the plant-cup. Sweet and thick, but so easy to maneuver.

The chief's daughter stole another peek at Sokka, who had moved to Suki's side of the fire on stumbling legs. He _had_ had about ten cups of the stuff. Katara looked up at the moon. Toph and Aang had gone to sleep. Only she, Sokka, Suki, and Zuko remained. That was when Sokka had dragged out the cactus plant from his room—Tui only knows where he got that—and suggested a drinking party. Zuko and Suki joined in, having nothing to do. Katara, however, had just stared at the thick, easy to bend liquid, trying to figure out what made it so intoxicating. Two hours later, there she sat, bending the juice apart, piece by piece, trying to figure it out.

The sweet smell of the cactus syrup had Katara licking her lips. She traced the thick rim of the cactus and sniffed at the juice. So syrupy-smelling. Like arctic-berry juice. Just _one_ small cup wouldn't kill her, would it? She lifted the cup to her lips. "Just…one…sip," she told herself, taking one swing of the sticky nectar.

The juice ran down her throat, coating her esophagus thickly. Her tongue grew bulky with the sweet juice. It tasted like cold water, slathered with berry jam, sprinkled with sugar, a sour something, mixed with something she couldn't really place. Her tongue rolled around her mouth, trying to swallow what was stuck to her inner cheeks.

She needed another one. She tipped the cup back and took a bigger mouthful. And another. And another. And another. "Sokka!" she complained, not being able to taste anymore of that heavenly juice. Drunk and sad, she dragged a finger over the plant's soft bottom. "Sokka!" she shouted again, only to be greeted with the moaning of her brother's voice. A crash sounded, like something braking, down the hall. Something giggled—something that sounded a lot like an intoxicated Suki.

Katara threw the cup into the flaming fire. They picked up on the plant and burned brighter. The growing flame hurled light onto the side of the log Sokka was sitting on minutes before. A cactus top glowed orange, its sap a tangerine juice. Katara's face broke into a tan smile.

Not trusting her legs, the tribeswoman crawled over to it and cupped the cactus in her hands, lifting it to her lips. The juice coated her mouth in small sips. Katara smiled and stood up on wobbly legs. She swayed for a second or two before regaining control. The sun was coming up already, driving away the cool navy light with blistering orange tongues. She needed to be in her room before anyone noticed her—other than her lusty brother, who was, no doubt, having fun in Suki's room—and she still had the sense, though dwindling, to know that.

As if in an egg-and-spoon competition, in which the juice was her egg, her hand the spoon, and her tripping legs the obstacle, Katara stumbled down the hall, only to slam into a strong wall. Katara, quizzically, looked up from her juice to the wall. It wasn't a wall! It was a Zuko. He really did rise with the sun. He had his arms up in a surrendering pose.

The side of Katara's lips curled up into a drunken smirk. She lifted the cup up and over his shoulder, snaking her other arm under his waist. Her hand gripped his wonderfully shaped butt. Was it always this _round_?

Katara's eyes, Zuko noticed, were purpled blue with alcohol. He blushed slightly at the feel of her fingers on his butt.

"Hey princey with a cute butt!" Katara shouted, a bit too loudly and far too slurred. "Let's get outta here!"

Zuko's eyes widened. She was far too drunk to cook breakfast this morning. His strong hands moved from above his head to the side of her shoulders. He held her arms like that harshly, waiting for the pain to shove through her inebriated lust. It took a while, but soon, Katara pursed her lips, trying to figure out what it was that hurt.

Katara pouted through her dazed mind. "Zoo…" she murmured sadly, watching the rejection in his butterscotch eyes.

Zuko sighed and lifted the drunken girl off her feet, holding her bridal style. Katara's memory of rejection left, fallen to the floor when her feet rose from it; she laughed, her voice bubbly and airy. "Zuko!" she giggled, kicking her shoeless feet over his bicep. Her skirt fell over her long blue sweatpants.

The re-banished Fire Prince shook his head, both in amusement and annoyance, at Katara. He turned around to the long hall, his ears losing the innocence they never head upon passing Suki's closed door. Katara's everlasting giggles were the only things to block the sound of the two's never-ending moaning.

Katara giggled, keeping her arms on her lap. "Have a been a _bad_ girl, Fire Princey Zuko? Am I going to be _punished_?" She asked the last word with a stuttering, breathless lust.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "No, Katara. You're going to sleep," he answered.

"_Can_ I be punished, princey?"

Zuko laughed. The sun's blazing flames made his voice all that more sincere. She wasn't going to remember anything in the morning, so why not? Why not mess with her for a few seconds? Her memory would be wiped away like a chalkboard tomorrow anyway. "'Tara, I'd _love _to, but I'm sure Sokka would kill me in the morning," he chuckled.

Katara crossed her arms. "Sokka's not my dad. Besides, in my country, it's illegal to marry virgin," she hissed.

Zuko was sure she was lying. She was too hopped up on juice for her mind to be following the same train of thought. Although, she did handle her liquor pretty well. He knew that Mai would have doubled over vomiting already. He sighed and kicked the tribeswoman's door open. Rays of sunshine, dim and dark, ran into her windows. He laid the girl on her cot and smirked at her hooded eyes and sleepy frown. "Goodnight Katara," he said.

Katara frowned and grabbed his arm as he left. "It's too bright to sleep," she murmured. Katara pulled down the pale-skinned boy to her bed, where he sat cross-legged. "Sing me a lullaby…"

Zuko stared at her, dumbfounded. Seconds ago, she was begging to get laid; now, she just wanted to sleep. Maybe she wasn't that drunk. Maybe, as a waterbender, she was bending the alcohol out of her system little by little, like he could firebend it away. Like he had firebent it away. He had training with Aang in the morning and had decided to take a nap without having to wake up to a hangover.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to sing in his off-pitch voice, Katara was snoring. He smiled and left the room, laying a kiss on the girl's forehead. He had to wake Aang now. Before he left, he admired her sleeping form for a second to long. The animalistic noises continued down the hall. Toph and Aang still slept. Maybe it wouldn't kill him to not wake the Avatar today. Maybe it wouldn't kill them to skip _one_ day. Just one. Besides, no twelve-year-old needed to be awake to kill his innocence and the view he had of his crush's brother.

He sat down near the doorway and smiled, watching as the intoxicated girl slept off her drunkenness. In about three hours, she would be in hell, going through what Zuko hoped was her first hangover. He sighed and watched as the girl's chest heaved.

_Princey with a cute butt._

The words echoed in his mind. He liked them. Maybe later he'd bother her with them. After she hadn't a headache. He wasn't ready for a pained, annoyed, and angry Katara yet, although he did miss the ocean her eyes mimicked when she angered. He smiled and watched Katara sleep. She had asked him to stay, so he wasn't doing anything wrong in doing so.

Zuko smiled at the girl's unknowingness. What was in for her in the morning…

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**R&R! :)**


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